Samsung reveals futuristic health tracker, software platform

Samsung has unveiled its proposed design for a next-gen wearable health tracker, as well as its plans for an open-source health tracking software platform.

Announced at Samsung’s ‘Voice of the Body’ event, the Simband wearable device will beam varying light wavelengths at the user’s skin, measuring the data in order to continually track health factors such as blood pressure, heart rate, respiration, hydration and blood carbon dioxide levels.

The Simband will also utilise a ‘shuttle battery’ in order to recharge while the user sleeps, meaning the band never needs to be taken off.

The Simband will run on Samsung’s second big health announcement – SAMI, or ‘Samsung Architecture Multimodal Interactions’.

The open-source software is envisioned as providing a universal platform for health trackers – both Samsung’s and from third-parties – allowing users and developers to collect data from multiple sources.

"We believe that once we’re working from a common platform, sensors will become more accurate, and will be brought to market more quickly," explained Ram Fish, president of digital health at Samsung.

The firm said that SAMI API development kits would be provided to developers by the end of 2014.